Advertisement

Eight-nine people killed after India temple stampede

At least 89 people have died after masses of Hindu worshippers stampeded while crossing a bridge to a temple in central India.

Chaos broke out after rumours suggested the bridge was collapsing over the Sindh River, police said.

Among the 89 killed by the crush were 17 children and 31 women.

ITV News' Lewis Vaughan-Jones reports:

Some worshippers were crushed to death under the feet of fellow devotees, while others drowned after falling or jumping into the river.

Police wielding sticks had charged the crowd in an effort to contain the rush, the deputy inspector of police said.

People cross a bridge after a stampede near Ratangarh temple in Datia district. Credit: Reuters

More than 100 people were taken to hospital with injuries including broken bones.

Hours later, relatives were still searching for missing loved ones among the bodies that were lying together on the bridge.

89 people are believed to have been killed in the stampede. Credit: APTN

Local media reported that an estimated 500,000 people had gone to the remote Ratangarh village temple in the Madhya Pradesh district of Datia to honour the Hindu mother goddess Durga on the last day of the 10-day Navaratri festival.

The Datia district (marked A) of Madhya Pradesh is about 250 miles south of Delhi. Credit: Google Maps

The leader of India's ruling Congress Party, Sonia Gandhi, expressed "shock and deep anguish over the tragic incident", a part statement said.